AbeBooks Reviews

I was astounded to see some of the reviews left by others! I've ordered 50+ books over the years, some old, some rare, some paperbacks and have NEVER had a bad experience. Every one of them arrived before they were expected, in the condition it was described, and when I had a question for the seller I heard back within 24 hours. AbeBooks is the BEST!

I thought it was terrible, I bought a book in February and never received it. I contacted several times and got no response. Now they tell me that 30 days have passed and I am not entitled to a refund for a book that never arrived… This is called theft. You are not reliable, you sell and do not deliver and are not responsible for the sale. This is absurd, do not buy books from Abebooks it is fraud.

I thought it was terrible, I bought a book in February and never received it. I contacted several times and got no response. Now they tell me that 30 days have passed and I am not entitled to a refund for a book that never arrived… This is called theft. You are not reliable, you sell and do not deliver and are not responsible for the sale. This is absurd, do not buy books from Abebooks it is fraud.

This site seemed ok ... then I am 20 days from purchase date and STILL waiting for my book. I sent the seller an email and got a short, rude reply back about nonsense.. I dont care dude.. where is my BOOK. Went to leave some customer feedback on their site about said seller and LOW... you can't. YOU CANNOT even review the sellers.. OMG. I had no idea. I feel lucky to have rec'd. my first book tbh. Anyway I won't shop with them again. If I can't know if my book seller is a total scammer then I won't buy. No thanks Abe.

I've just read all these one-star reviews for abebooks, and I don't get it. I've made 35 purchases since 2005 -- I just went through my purchases -- and I have not had a single problem. Not one. Nothing but great service from people who clearly love books.

Really, there must be something going on that these reviewers aren't telling us about, as not many of the reviews are very specific, just a bunch of unwinding.

Bait and switch scam. I ordered an out of print book in new condition from a specific seller (mentioned specifically in one of the reviews below). I received a very good condition book from another seller. The original seller will only refund 50% of the difference.

The condition of the book stated "NEW". What I received was an old book, missing parts, cover that had gooey stuff on it, corners dented, and surface torn. Inside pages written on. This is new? I got taken, won't order from them again!

Book ordered on May 1 never arrived. Bookseller number not correct and apparently fraudulent. No one to contact at abe. Following support request links on abe website results in endless circle which goes nowhere. They never respond to emails. Wasted money.

Never buy from Abebooks. Not reputable company. Detest returns/refunds so need to threaten credit card fraud to get attention. Often claim book wasn't bought on Abebooks ( with Abebooks order #) and even claim they're not Abebooks but Ergode books. Many Abebooks sellers list very pricey signed editions offer no provenance and upon request ignore all inquiries. If you're a dishonest broker (ie Campbell Books, Gold Books) you'll do well there; but if you're an honest buyer, you'll regret it.

Sellers can be very scummy with their book descriptions on AbeBooks, and there is no way to leave a seller review to warn other buyers of their issues.

I've received many damaged books, not matching their descriptions at all, from AbeBooks sellers and there is no way to leave a review about them. It's extremely frustrating spending hundreds of dollars on a book, only to receive them in a poor condition, horribly damaged, pages cut or torn, and the sellers don't care at all.

Their return process is extremely annoying, and there's nothing you can do about it.

AbeBooks is a last resort option for me when purchasing books.

Ordered from this company as it was a Canadian/BC based business. Found the book I was looking for from a UK seller via the platform, at a great price. The seller had a high rating and the shipping was slated for no later than the 31st of March.(World of Books) I received confirmation of purchase but no tracking or dispatch information. The 31st came and went and I messaged the seller (as per the site instructions) to find out what was happening. I didn't hear back from them so I emailed ABE books. I did receive a response fairly fast, however, I was advised that the seller canceled the order as they didn't actually have the book in stock. They provided a standardized response about how I could contact the seller to find out why it was canceled and that orders canceled by the seller would count against their rating. A different email received shortly after, stated (ABE) they apologized for the issue and had in fact sourced another book that would be dispatched within 24 hours- Great!
Two days later, I still had no follow up to this email so I sent another request. To which, I received the same cookie cutter response regarding how to contact the seller etc.
I sent 6 emails asking simply for them to confirm whether or not I needed to source this item elsewhere as they still hadn't confirmed the promised replacement.
Instead, I received email that the purchase had been refunded.
I asked again.
Same cookie cutter response.
Also, the same seller (World of Books) was STILL listing this item for sale.

Another 4 emails.

This morning I receive an email stating they weren't able to find a replacement (lie since there are multiple on their site but they were more costly than what I paid) so my order was refunded.
I understand things happen, but what I don't appreciate is when a company makes a promise to "make things right" then ghosts you, then outright lies.
Guess it's back to ordering from Amazon.
Absolute garbage company.

How terrible. I waited over 1 month for the book and they just printed the label never sent the item. I'm waiting to see if I'm getting my money back!

Ordered from this company as it was a Canadian/BC based business. Found the book I was looking for from a UK seller via the platform, at a great price. The seller had a high rating and the shipping was slated for no later than the 31st of March.(World of Books) I received confirmation of purchase but no tracking or dispatch information. The 31st came and went and I messaged the seller (as per the site instructions) to find out what was happening. I didn't hear back from them so I emailed ABE books. I did receive a response fairly fast, however, I was advised that the seller canceled the order as they didn't actually have the book in stock. They provided a standardized response about how I could contact the seller to find out why it was canceled and that orders canceled by the seller would count against their rating. A different email received shortly after, stated (ABE) they apologized for the issue and had in fact sourced another book that would be dispatched within 24 hours- Great!
Two days later, I still had no follow up to this email so I sent another request. To which, I received the same cookie cutter response regarding how to contact the seller etc.
I sent 6 emails asking simply for them to confirm whether or not I needed to source this item elsewhere as they still hadn't confirmed the promised replacement.
Instead, I received email that the purchase had been refunded.
I asked again.
Same cookie cutter response.
Also, the same seller (World of Books) was STILL listing this item for sale.

Another 4 emails.

This morning I receive an email stating they weren't able to find a replacement (lie since there are multiple on their site but they were more costly than what I paid) so my order was refunded.
I understand things happen, but what I don't appreciate is when a company makes a promise to "make things right" then ghosts you, then outright lies.
Guess it's back to ordering from Amazon.
Absolutely, garbage company.

In my experience this is not a reputable company . They take preauthorisations monies immediately for book but then email to tell you books cancelled you email them after 2 weeks as no sight of your money back they are quite rude toward your enquiry I send another email to them I need my money returned no return email . Eventually they return my money as they don’t have the book I would never ever consider using such a company again if you can call them such
Bad bad experience.

You are probably only reading this if you have had a similar problem, but maybe it will help someone.

AbeBooks used to be good, but I have had nothing but problems recently. If you need to return a book, it’s out of your pocket, and although you will be told the seller will refund your shipping costs, they won’t (SecondSale)

Another scam is when the seller ships your book with no tracking information. I can almost guarantee you that the book was never shipped. The sellers will do this because then their fulfillment rating won’t go down. They probably also do it because sometimes the buyer forgets about their order and then they just pocket the money (Irish Booksellers).

Customer service is basically non-existent. I don’t recommend this site and most likely won’t use it again